But the overall theme (if there is one) was waterways. Cycled the Rhine and Danube as well as Belgium, Dutch and English Canals. With Debbie and Aaron we toured the Loire Valley by car – can’t really say I cycled it as 10k in Samour doesn’t count.

Met some interesting and great people along the way, too many to mention. Only used my “cold weather” gear 3 times as the temperature was consistently hitting 30C + all the time.

In the spirit of today’s trend of having the “Ten Best of…..” My top 10, in no particular order are:

• The cycle paths of Belgium, Holland, Austria, France. (Worst by a long shot were England and Hungry)
• Madeira – very pleasant surprise
• Best Bridge – the wooden bike/Foot bridge near Kelheim
• Best Campsite. – Vilshofen an der Donau, totally geared for cyclists
• Bad Days – None, well there were some not so good days but then without them the good days would be ordinary
• Accident free days – all except one – when the bike and I parted company on a bridge
• Punctures or mechanical failures – none
• Best piece of gear – My ultra light weight camp chair with the Brooks Saddle coming in a close second
• Best website/app – hands down Komoot.com in combo with the Garmin Edge.
• The people you meet along the way.

Enough of that! But I am in a Budapest Bus Station waiting for the FlixBus to take my bike and I back along the route I cycled all the way to Düsseldorf. It’ll take 18 ½ hours starting at 10pm – can’t wait :~/

I felt a lot better about Budapest after a good night’s sleep, although it was full of a multitude of languages as tourists from everywhere were here. I’d grown very attuned to the peace and quiet of the country and had managed to avoid most cities along the way. Some might say that was terrible and that I was missing all the usual sights – Cathedrals, Museums, “local” tourist food etc. Nah!

But I did go to an Organ recital in St Stephen’s Bascilica. I think the concert was geared towards showing the full power of the “World Famous Pipe Organ”, rather than it’s range. Apart from that the city was hot. I think the temperature has hit 30 plus for my last three weeks. I’m beginning to melt.

As I mentioned I’m heading to Düsseldorf then cycling back to London from there before flying to Madeira for a week. After that ?? I’m not sure.

At Esztergom I thought about taking a short cut cross country to Budapest, but 5 km into it I felt I was somehow cheating so turned back and kept going along the Danube. Not very long afterwards, the usual thunderstorm closed in and while sheltering, I met an Aussie who’d started out from Budapest. He’d seriously underestimated the distances and was going to have difficulty making his destination before evening. Anyway, as it had taken him about 3 hours to get to where we met, I decided to push on.

Well, one of the websites did mention that the Hungarian section could be a little bit rough and wasn’t necessarily suitable for all types of cyclists. I ended up cycling much of the way standing up, such was the jarring and bouncing from the “path”. Then as I neared Budapest, the path ceased to exist and i was in a stream of Sunday afternoon motorists keen to speed home. But the time I finished the journey, I had sore, frayed at the edges and ready to quit Hungary.

On the plus side the condition of the roads did put to rest any lingering thoughts of going beyond Budapest. Anyway tomorrow is a new day.